On this day exactly 380 years ago, bananas went on sale for the first time in Britain when they were displayed in the shop window of Thomas Johnson, a London herbalist. [Source: BBC History magazine, April 2013]

I wonder where those bananas originated and how come a herbalist marketed them. In Wikipedia I find that bananas are "native to tropical South and Southeast Asia and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea."

Also, there's another account on the Internet which says Sir Alfred Jones [1845-1909] is credited with introducing bananas to Britain from West Africa through his shipping company, Elder Dempster. Clearly, Sir Alfred was credited erroneously as he was born long after 1633 when those first bananas appeared in the herbalist's shop in London.

If any GNI member is eating banana today, this post might be a starting point for a conversation.